There is so much more to being an artist than the canvas or sculpture shows. An enormous amount of time is invested in artistic pieces. There is endless thought and development of ideas that we never consider.

I have a group of retired teacher friends and we share a WhatsApp group where we support each other, keep in touch and share news about our lives just as we did in the staff room when we were working. We are lucky that our friendship has endured. Now, we all have grandchildren of whom we are immensely proud. We have a lot of life experience between us and as a result we can settle each other’s minds to stop worrying about the things we cannot change.

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Recently, we got together for two nights in a beautiful house in Kinsale. Of the five of us, two of the girls are proper artists. Both of them have their own studio spaces at home. On one of the evenings, the artists, Cherryl and Mary started a conversation about art and painting, putting a price on their work and so on. It was most enlightening. The rest of us look at a painting and like it or not. We’ve no idea of the planning process or expertise that goes into building a painting up or the concept behind the art work.

Mary had an exhibition coming up and she had to ready 16 paintings for the event. She was one of four artists that would exhibit at the Blue House Gallery in Schull. It is a mammoth task for an artist to get ready for something like that. Mary would always have five or six paintings on the go. Cherryl, over in the UK, would likewise have a few projects in hand.

Out came the phones and the pictures and we were blown away with the quality of their work. Even though we’ve known the girls for years and knew that they paint, I had never been in deep discussion about the work.

Out came the phones and the pictures and we were blown away with the quality of their work. Even though we’ve known the girls for years and knew that they paint, I had never been in deep discussion about the work

The following week, Siobhan and I went to Schull to see Mary’s paintings. I went into the first room in the art gallery and recognised Fiona Power who is married to my first cousin, Conor Power. I always knew that Fiona painted but had no idea she was such a brilliant artist. There she was amongst her landscapes and wooded-themed paintings of the Bantry and Glengarriff areas. She talked the artistic talk about each trunk of a tree being individual and of course they are to the painter that has to paint each one.

Then it was on to Mary Bowen Galvin’s work. I was blown away by Mary’s work that was entitled ‘The Feminine Principle’. Historically, the feminine was revered within mythology such as Mother Earth and figures that embraced fertility and creation.

Appreciate the arts

Over centuries, this connection was obscured by patriarchal structures. In Mary’s body of work, she explored this by having one woman of that free world looking at her own image of a woman being controlled. I would never have understood the subtility of the paintings without Mary’s input. It is important to talk to artists so that we can appreciate their work at a deeper level. Mary’s work can be viewed on Instagram @marybowengalvinartist.

Most artists promote their paintings through social media and in art galleries that they depend on to help them to sell their work. Summertime is an ideal time to pop in and out of galleries when walking in our towns around the country.

You’d never know when you’d see something that speaks to you individually. It is nice to understand and appreciate those who have special gifts.